A Study of the Effectiveness of Nitrocellulose Lacquer for Corrosion Control of Medium Carbon Steel

This work investigates the effectiveness of nitrocellulose lacquer in the corrosion protection of medium carbon steel in different environments. Samples of the 0.27% carbon steel were coated with plasticized nitrocellulose lacquer and immersed in freshwater, seawater and air. Some of the samples were left exposed to air. Weight loss method and potentio-dynamic electrode method were used to investigate the corrosion of coated and uncoated samples of 0.27% carbon steel in the various mediums for a duration of 60days at 10 days interval. Weight loss data was recorded every 10 days for the 60-day periods. The Potentio-dynamic electrode method was used for corrosion tests of the steel in the different mediums. Silver/Silver Chloride (Ag/AgCl) and graphite were used as the reference and counter electrodes in a conventional three electrode polarization system. Results from the weight loss experiments showed that there were no significant changes in the weight of lacquer-coated samples in the various mediums after +60-days. However, weight loss in the uncoated samples were significant in all the mediums after 60-days. The potentio-dynamic electrode method revealed that the effect of coating of the coupons with a p-value of 0.0392(<0.05) is significant on the corrosion rate of the steel coupons while the effect of the different environment considered with a p-value of 0.2267(>0.05) is insignificant on the corrosion rate of the metal.